A Gate Home
by knaka148
Summary: After many months of effort, the adventurers finally make a gate back to their own world. How will things unfold with the two worlds connected?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**

 **Hey, I wrote this draft a while ago, but decided against posting it until now. I actually wanted to write more of the story before posting this, but had an idea for a crossover that I wanted to write,based off of this, so I figured I'd just post this now.**

XXX

Shiroe looked at the transport gate in the center of the town as the adventurers from the Roderick Merchant Guild and Plant Hwyaden's research division made some last minute adjustments on it. As they finished preparations, Shiroe took a moment to appreciate how much had changed. Just eighteen months ago, he wouldn't have believed that he would be here in Minami preparing for the project that was about to commence.

"So, we're really doing it, huh?"

"Yeah, thanks for all of your support, Kazuhiko."

"It's nothing."

Shiroe spared a glance at this friend, former comrade, and current ally. He was truly grateful that they were working together once again. Shiroe then looked around the area and saw several noteworthy figures. Amongst them were Issac, Roderick and Karashin from Akiba, and Mizufa, Zeldus, and Kazuhiko from Plant Hwyaden, all of whom were looking at the transport gate. The representatives from Eastal and Westeland were talking about something in a corner, while the other lander representatives were standing off to the side. Eastal had sent a rather large delegation, but the others had only sent a few people, as Eastal and Westelande were the major powers in Yamato and most of Westelande's forces were allied with Plant Hwyaden. ReGan was assisting with the modifications to the gate and Akatsuki was scouting their surroundings, making sure nothing outside of their expectations occurred. Shiroe did not know what Roe2 and Kanami were doing right now and he wasn't sure that he wanted to know.

"So, where are Nureha, Indicus, and KR? I thought that they would be here."

"Nureha and Indicus are both in their rooms. They said that they didn't need to be here for the first stage. I have no idea what the clown is doing."

"Is that so, ah, it looks like they're starting."

The people surrounding the gate had backed off and a dozen mages now surrounded it. All of them raised their hands toward the gate and channeled their mana, activating the spells. The gate shimmered lightly before returning to its former appearance.

"Well, looks like it worked."

"We can't be sure of that yet, Kazuhiko. We'll find out in the second stage. Still, this appears promising."

"Well, I'm headed back to my room. We should be ready for the main event."

"Yeah, I really hope this works. It will help a lot of people."

'And change the course of history', Shiroe thought to himself.

XXX

Eighteen months. It had taken eighteen months to come to this point. After clearing the Calling Fortress in Shibuya and temporary contacting Kanami on the China server, the Round Table dispatched a team to repair the broadcasting equipment to get in contact with the Observers, Roe2's companions. It took two months, but the equipment was eventually restored. During this time, the Akiba Round Table and Plant Hwyaden formed an alliance and brokered a truce between Eastal and Westelande. Both sides shared some of their discoveries and allowed players to migrate between cities, although the travel was still difficult.

Once communication was established with the observers, they acknowledged the adventurers and agreed to help them, thus forming an alliance. The observers acknowledged their right to the resources of the world, but agreed to assist them in exchange for a small portion of those resources, which they claimed would be enough to create more resources and sustain them. Shiroe and the other adventures didn't understand how that worked, but they didn't question it. The adventurers had hoped that the observers would be able to send them back to their world immediately, but unfortunately, they could not. Even they did not have all of the answers. However, they were able to share their perspective on what had happened since the apocalypse. With these events, the adventurers had gained much more information.

Over the next few months, the alliance's brightest and smartest minds sifted through all of the information that they had gained. Both Shiroe and ReGan were surprised to learn that ReGan's former master was working with Plant Hwyaden. Also around this time, the Ocypete was sent on a trip to the mainland to retrieve Crusty, Kanami and her party. Indicus was shocked to see Kanami was in this world; somehow, it appeared that she didn't get a message informing her of this. Shiroe was equally surprised to learn about Copellia's existence, but eventually came to accept it.

After several months of research, the alliance concluded that both the adventurers and the observers were from different worlds that existed in different planes. Most adventurers and Landers couldn't understand what this meant, but the observers couldn't find a better way to explain it. Several people rationalized this as existing in different dimensions, even though the Observers claimed that was an oversimplification of the situation. After a few more months of research, the alliance developed a method to establish a connection between these planes that possibly could be used to send the adventures back to their world.

After considering several alternatives, it was decided to use the inter-city transport gate in Minami to create the experimental gateway back to the adventurer's home. The gate would require an enormous amount of magical power to function and the only way to effectively power it would be to use a city's underground magic circle. Since Akiba's was out of commission and Shibuya was now a dungeon, that only left Minami, Susukino, and Nakasu as options on the Japanese server. There were other cities with underground magic circles, but these were smaller than the player cities, so their energy output would be insufficient. The alliance still lacked information on foreign servers, and didn't want to risk an expedition. From there, Minami was the obvious choice as it had the highest population of adventures and the most developed infrastructure.

Several adventurers wanted to build the gate as soon as possible, but others, including Shiroe, recommended caution. They realized that it would be best to control the flow of people at first, since if a group of adventures decided to cause trouble back in their home world, it could possibly be blamed on all of them. After a few heated discussions, it was decided that they would send several emissaries to contact the government first and notify them about the situation, and only allow most people to cross once both sides agreed. Shiroe also pointed out that they had no idea what was happing back in their home world. For all they knew, there could be copies of them still living their lives as if nothing happened on the day of the apocalypse. Also, they did not know if the time flow difference in Elder Tale was still in effect or if it had stopped after the apocalypse.

These considerations made the alliance take a cautious approach. Information about the gate would be kept on a need to know basis, only letting the general public know that they were working on something, and Plant Hwyaden developed a new piece of technology that was, for lack of a better term, a shield projector. This shield projector could generate a powerful barrier that prevented anyone from passing through it. It would require constant magic power to operate, so once again, its use was limited to cities with underground magic circles. This was a specialized piece of equipment that could only be used in specific situations such as this one. Once people knew about the gate, they would likely try to force their way through it. The shield projector was built to stop that. In the unlikely event that it was penetrated, the gate was set to close immediately. This would be necessary only until they received permission to return.

The activation of the gate required two stages. The first stage would create an exit gate somewhere back in their home world. The second stage would link the two gates and allow travel between worlds. The creation of the exit gate would require several conditions to be met, but the observers claimed that these conditions would not be a problem. They stated that since the adventurers were from another world, they had a point of reference. Naturally, the adventures did not understand what this meant, but by now, they had accepted that they would not be able to understand everything the observers said.

Both stages required an enormous amount of magic power, so much that even with the giant magic circle, it would take a while to charge it. Maintaining both the gate connection and the shield projectors would also consume a huge amount of magic, so much that while they were active, the other defensive systems of Minami such as the magic barrier around cities would not be functional and only five of the Royal Guards would be able to deploy at one time. Still, the alliance decided that this was acceptable, and Akiba had proven that a city could function without those systems.

After discovering how to modify the transport gate, the actual modification was done relatively quickly, taking only three days. Building the supporting equipment such as the magic storage units took slightly longer, but all of the preparations were made within a week. Before they actually tried travelling across dimensions, the alliance decided to test the modified portal with intra-dimensional travel by creating an exit point in this world. Once again, heated discussions took place on where they should connect to, with many different people sharing their opinion on where they should set the exit. Leonardo naturally wanted to connect back to the America server, Krusty suggested one of the villages on the China server, and KR requested they try creating the portal exit on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. All of the suggestions, with the exception of KR's, were considered, but eventually, Shiroe's proposal was accepted. Shiroe suggested that the exit be set near the observer's community on the moon. Although the observers had developed a method for them to travel to and from their community, this would allow the Adventurers to test if the gate could be set outside of the planet and if it would remain stable if the distance between the two gates were constantly changing. The test turned out to be a success with the portal remaining stable and functional while it was powered.

On a side note, there is now a gate exit on the moon, one that is likely never to be used again.

With the gate's functions now proven, it was time to attempt to connect back to the adventurer's home world.

XXX

The day had finally come.

A dozen people stood in front of the gate, including Shiroe, Kazuhiko, and Naotsugu. If all went according to plan, only six of them would enter the gate after it connected. The people chosen for this task were all adventures who had a human or humanoid appearance. The alliance did not want to run the risk of making people back in their world panic at the sight of a non-human, and adventures were the group most familiar with their world. Adventures that did not have a humanoid appearance and the other groups would be able to travel through the gate later.

The alliance had already discussed several concerns with the volunteers that would pass through the gate. They were unsure if this gate even connected to the same world they were from, so they had to tread carefully. They would investigate where the gate lead to and discuss things once they knew. Even if the gate led where they intended it to, they still had to be careful. No one knew how the world had changed while they were gone and they couldn't predict what would happen as a result of their return. The alliance did not know how individuals from this world would function back in their home world, if magic and abilities would work, or even if they could respawn there. Naturally, everyone had to be cautious.

Once the mana batteries were fully charged, other preparations were complete, and the shield generators stabilized, they began the process of connecting the gate. Two mages, one on either side of the gate, activated the magic inscribed on the gate, and the gate began drawing enormous amounts of magic power from the mana batteries. After a few seconds, the gate connected with the exit and a passage formed. Since the surface of the passage was opaque, the adventurers couldn't see what was on the other side. So far, everything had gone according to plan. The gate's exit should be somewhere in Osaka in their home world. According to the Observers, there would be a residual link to the adventure's home world in every adventurer. Using that link, the portal's exit should have materialized in their home world. However, this was all still theory to the adventurers; they could not confirm it yet.

One of the twelve adventures, a summoner by the name of Shomi, summoned a small fox and used Soul Possession to take control of it. The small fox dashed into the gate. The others watched with anticipation as they awaited the report of the scout.

XXX

 **And that's it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **In case anyone is wondering, I deliberately ended this chapter before it was confirmed that the gate leads back to the adventurer's home world. The reason for this is so I can re-use this chapter to make crossovers if I feel like it. At this point, I can set the exit basically anywhere, in any story and continue from there.**

 **On a side note, if you want to use this chapter as a base for your own crossover, feel free to PM me and ask. I can't guarantee that I will say yes or answer quickly, but it won't hurt to try.**

 **Fair warning, I will update this story very slowly**


	2. Chapter 2

**Soooo...**

 **First of all happy new year.**

 **I probably should have mentioned this, but don't expect frequent updates for this story. For some reason, although Log Horizon is my current favorite anime (I say current because it changes every so often) for some reason, I have trouble coming up with stories for it. Add to that my inconsistent ability to write and you get an erratic chapter release schedule.**

 **Apologies for that, but I already put this off long enough.**

 **Enjoy.**

XXX

Officer Naoto Yamaguchi looked at the strange structure in front of him. About thirty meters away, what could be described as a large gate was sitting in the middle of an empty road. From what he had heard, this gate had suddenly appeared here out of nowhere two days ago, so suddenly that several cars crashed into it before anyone realized it was there. No one understood how it had suddenly appeared there and the city officials immediately cordoned off the area. The cars that had crashed into the gate had been towed, but the gate itself for some reason couldn't be moved. There were several attempts to do so, but it appeared to be much heavier than it looked, which made it all the more mysterious how it got there in the first place. No one could explain how or why the gate had suddenly appeared there, so several research teams were being sent to investigate it. Already, one of the teams from Tokyo University was here, setting up some equipment around the gate.

From where Officer Yamaguchi stood, the gate looked like part of the background of a movie set. It didn't appear to do anything special and the only reason anyone was interested in it was the fact that it appeared out of nowhere. When Officer Yamaguchi first heard he was assigned to guard the area around the mysterious gate, he was excited about it. After all, he originally joined the police force for some excitement. While he didn't expect to be part of any high-speed police chases or shootouts like in movies, he at least expected something more exciting than just going on patrol every day without anything happening. Officer Yamaguchi thought that something interesting might happen here, but unfortunately, all he had to do was stand at his spot for hours. He honestly thought that a mannequin could take his job at this point.

While he was musing over these thoughts, Officer Yamaguchi noticed out of the corner of his eye that there was some activity near the gate. The research team seemed somewhat excited. Although he couldn't see why from where he was standing, he knew that something had happened.

Perhaps things would start to get interesting here after all.

XXX

Akira Tanaka stared at the gate for a moment before returning to work setting up electronic equipment. He had been sent as part of a team to investigate the mysterious gate that suddenly appeared in the middle of a street. At first, he had been excited to be a part of this assignment, but was a little disappointed when the preliminary investigation revealed nothing noteworthy about the gate. Akira was a grad student at Tokyo University and the only reason he was here was the fact that one of his professors needed assistants on short notice and he volunteered. Akira had heard about the appearance of the mysterious gate and wanted to see it up close for himself. The extra credit his professor offered was just icing on the cake. The first group consisted of three professors and five assistants and was sent to do some basic tests to make sure there was no danger, while a larger and more experienced group would arrive in a few days. Akira also heard rumors that several international organizations wanted to study this strange gate, which was quite believable from his point of view.

"Hey, almost done there Akira-san?"

"Yeah, I'm finished, how about you Natsuo-san?"

"Give me a sec... Ok, I got it."

"Great, let's head back to the main tent."

Both Akira and Natsuo started walking to one of the tents that were set up in the area. It wasn't anything extravagant, just something meant to protect the sensitive equipment in case of rain or other adverse weather.

"So, what does this stuff actually measure?"

"I don't know. Professor Hirakawa just told us to set it up. If you want to know what it does, ask him."

"Eh, not worth my time. I'm only here for the extra credit, after all. I need it to pass this class."

From what Akira knew, Natsuo Shirokawa was a 2nd year undergraduate student. Akira only saw him occasionally and rarely spoke to him before this assignment. He was an ordinary student, not poor, not outstanding, but average. He claimed he lived alone with his father; his mother died several years ago, and his older brother was a victim of the mass disappearance that occurred, taking over half a million people three years ago. He had yet to choose his major and claimed he didn't care what profession he chose, as long as it made him rich. According to rumors, he was an excellent chef, but Akira had seen no evidence of that.

As Akira and Natsuo entered the tent, a few machines started making noises. It wasn't very noisy, but they did seem like alarms.

"Professor, what's going on? Did something happen?"

"Ah, Tanaka-kun, I'm not sure how important this is, but we're detecting an electrical buildup in the structure."

"Is that bad?"

"Hm, well, I'm not sure. I don't know what it means. I can't tell if it's good, bad, or irrelevant. Still, I didn't expect to pick up an electrical signal from this structure."

Before anyone could reply, a voice called out to them.

"Hey, Hirakawa-sensei, come over here, something's happening!"

The three of them were called over by Professor Yamada, who was still inspecting the gate. Professor Hirakawa briskly walked toward the gate, with Akira and Natsuo behind him.

"What's happened Yama..., huh, was it this way before"

"No, that's why I called you over."

The four of them looked at the gate in front of them. The structure itself had not changed, but the runic characters on the gate were now glowing.

"Did we do anything to it?"

"No, this just happened on its own."

"Do we know what these characters represent?"

"Not yet, we've sent some pictures of them to the university and they're checking, but no one knows anything about them as of now."

"Professor, could the electrical buildup that we detected be causing this?"

"It's possible; it could be some sort of elaborate show. I don't know why anyone would want to do this though, and I don't see any controls or panels on this structure. Perhaps if we inspected it more thoroughly we might..."

"Woah, guys, did you see that?"

"See what?"

"That"

Natsuo pointed toward the center of the gate. At first glance no one understood what was wrong, but after a second, everyone there realized that there was some sort of opaque membrane over the passage of the gate. The appearance was difficult to describe, a sort of light-bluish substance that almost resembled a curtain.

"When did that get there?"

"Just now, I was looking through the hole in the center and all of a sudden, this appeared."

Akira dashed to the other side of the portal and looked at it.

"It's the same back here."

"Don't touch it, Akira."

"Thanks for the warning, but I was just planning to taste it. Of course I wouldn't touch it, Natsuo, do I look like an idiot?"

"Well,"

"Don't answer that."

"Well, if you two are done playing around, could we get back to work?"

"Sorry, professor"

"Sorry"

"Now then, the first thing we should do is"

"Hey, look at that!"

Natsuo pointed at a small animal on the ground. It looked like a fox, but no one had seen where it came from.

"That thing just jumped out of the gate!"

"Are you sure?"

"Where else would it have come from?"

Before anyone could do anything, the fox dashed away.

"Hey, don't lose it!"

Akira, Natsuo and Professor Hirakawa chased the fox to a corner of the street that was just in the containment perimeter. The fox climbed up a traffic light by the intersection and sat on the pole and looked around.

"Great, how do we catch it now?"

"Well, at least it stopped moving."

"We should call for some, ah!"

Before their eyes, the fox dissipated into motes of light and vanished.

"What was that? What just happened?"

"I don't know, but we should get back to the structure for now."

"Alright, Professor."

With that, the three of them headed back to the gate.

XXX

"Well, how's it look, Shomi?"

"I think it worked. It looks just like Japan on the other side."

"Well, we can't be sure at this point, but we need to find out. Let's try it."

With that, three people, a Samurai named Kano, a Cleric named Iguchi, and Naotsugu the Guardian, all dressed in non-threatening cloth clothes, stepped through the gate.

XXX

The four researchers gathered around the gate and informed Professor Yamada about the disappearing fox. Several other assistants and researchers gathered around the newly active gate as well. Before they could figure out what to do, three people, all of whom were wearing blue clothes and looking nervous, stepped through the gate and greeted them.

"Hello"

The one in front spoke to Professor Hirakawa. Quite surprised at this, Hirakawa answered them.

"Hello, wait, did you just come through... where did you... you speak..."

"Hey, I know you're a little surprised right now and you probably have a lot of questions, but I need to confirm something with you first. Are we currently in Japan?"

"Uh, yes,"

As soon as answered Kano, both Naotsugu and Iguchi, who were behind him, smiled at each other. Before anyone could do anything, Naotsugu shouted in excitement.

"ALL RIGHT"

Professors Hirakawa and Yamada and several others fainted from shock, while the others looked at Naotsugu as he did a 'happy dance'.


End file.
